The Big Payback : Lakers vs Dallas

The Lakers welcome back Lamar Odumb back for the first time since he demanded to be traded. For those who don't know I don't like Odumb so I couldn't care less. The showed a video montage at the beginning followed. Y the song " Welcome Back". When Lamar checked in the game there were some boos, but Derrick Fisher stood at mid court and urged the crowd to cheer, then ran over to hug him.

 The Staples Center rose to their feet and gave him an ovation. I did as well because I'm glad he's off our hands. Reports came out today that he contemplated taking a year or more off because his head was not in the game. THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!! The only reason he played this year was because Kloe told him too. Your wife needs to make you play a game you love and get paid millions for???? Get the heck outta here!!

  Whoosaw..ok now that I got that out lets get to the game. The first quarter was very sloppy. Both rims seemed to have lids on them. Dirk and Kobe were both scoreless. But guess who had 7 points....Odumb. I wonder why he couldn't make them here...he hit the last shot of the quarter to put Dallas up by three.
The second quarter gets underway and the Lakers go on a 6-0 run. Including a steal from Kobe to give him his first points of the night. Then, the next play after that he hit a fade away jumper. The Lakers seemed to being waking up out of their slumber.. Pau then gave a between the legs pass to Bynum for a slam. Then on the other end he blocks Dirk! Then Kobe blocks JKidd on the other end.!It's a Block Party and The Mavericks are invited! But, our bench once again is being out scored 18-6. We end the half up by 4 shooting 41%. Dallas is shooting 36%.
The third quarter opens up with a jumper from Dirk. This sparks the Mavs and Jason Kidd hits his first three ( he was 0-6)to put them within one. This sparks an 8-0 run by the Mavs. But then everything gets very sloppy. Kobe can't by a basket, Dirk can't buy a basket, Fisher is shooting the lights out and not drawing iron, Brendan Haywood is painful to watch on offense as usual, and Ron Artest is dribbling around the key like he's on the freakin Globetrotters! Bynum who has a double double already is the only one keepin us in this game.

But with that said the Lakers are 1-15 from the field!!!! But we are only down by five!! This was the ugliest game I had seen this season. Only 7points in the quarter!
The fourth quarter starts with a bunch of bricks of course but then Ron passes a lob to McBob who did a reverse slam! Then I promptly coined the phrase  #mcbobcity. Then the next play down Barnes thru a lob to Bynum. We may be comin alive people! That sparked an 11-4 run to put us up by five. But Dirk answered with six straight. It gets down to the wire at Staples. Lakers up by two with .38secs left and they are playing Let's Go Crazy by Prince. I got good vibes....Kobe goes up for a jumper and missed. Jason Terry pulls up for one and makes it. Tie score with 9secs left. And then......just as I live and breathe......D Fish pulls up for a threeeeeee!!!!




The Mavs get the ball back and Vince bricks a three to loose the game.  One of the worst games a season turned out to be another D Fish highlight. The hardest working man this off season,in and out of board rooms fighting for our entertainment and his lively hood.. All the people talking bout Fish need to shut their mouth. If Kobe ain't takin the last shot Fish is...and you can bet money it's goin in!!!! " This is what I do." said Fisher When opportunities present themselves, I'm confident in my ability to step up and make the right play.Ive been fortunate in my career to come up with some of those big plays." Fisher not only hit the game winner, but scored 9 of his 13 points in the 4th quarter. Kobe who ended his streak of 40 points games was a facilitator down the stretch. The best part is when he drew the double team he kicked out to Fish who delivered.

Its the same "old" song with Fisher. Many people say he needs to be off the team. I say as long as he keeps producing like this then why not keep him? Its just like Robert Horry. He would be scoreless all night and hit the game winner..those are the most important ones right? Yes hes old, yes hes slow, yes he gets burned by the new quick PGs in the league, but you know what else he does? Comes thru in the clutch: MR DEPENDABLE!!!!

The Downtown Showdown: Lakers vs Clippers Round 1

Lob City vs Ring City, The Hallway Series, Lakers vs Staples Center JV..however you slice it no matter what the outcome of this game was, people were gonna put wayyyy more on it than they should. Its one of three that will will play with our roommates the Clippers but with all the buzz surrounding this game you would've thought it was a playoff series! So lets get right to it.Let me just say Ive lost all respect for Blake because of his dirty play last nite.We all saw the play and the Mike Brown tech. Ive never seen Mike that mad.

 He later apologized to the team for loosing his cool and most importantly giving the other team a point. Kobe had another 40 point game, but this time it wasnt enough. But thats not the reason we lost....This blog wont be long, because there isn't much to say.  We lost to the Clippers 102-94. There were no lobs on this night..no monster blocks from Deandre Jordan. We actually held the Clips to 41% shooting. But,there are several reasons we lost and I will state a few:
  * The number one reason in my opinion is rebounding. We were murdered on the boards. This type of thing can happen on any given night, but we are the 2nd highest rebounding team in the league and the Clippers are dead last! Its not algebra. There is no excuse. The Clippers had 17 offensive rebounds that turned in 25 points!! Not good.
* The next problem were our big men.

Sure Kobe went on a shooting spree as always. Come on the guy doesn't get 22 mil a year to pas the ball. Hes a scorer that's what he does. So if I hear one more time that " He needs to pass the ball and get our big men involved " I'm gonna scream!!.

How bout our big men fight for position?? Andrew Bynum was playing soo scared last night! You would've thought Dwight Howard was waiting for him in the key! Now don't get me wrong, Deandre Jordan is a very good player, but he has nothing on Bynum when it comes to size and mass! Sure he leads the league in blocks, but this is a mans game!! Go down low and see what happens!Be dominant!! Bynum is arguably the best offensive center in the league. Demand the ball!! Be aggressive! Bynum spent most of the game outside the key like he was scared to go inside!! Not good. Lets not start on Pau. He was slow on getting position as well, and when he did he would shoot that dumb fade away. The one time he got a basket inside it was a layup! If you are that tall and that close to the basket ( in my Bill Walton voice) THROW IT DOWN BIG MAN!!! Sure they both had a double double. Pau ( 14,10) and Bynum (12,16). But you wouldn't know it. At times I didn't even know Bynum was in the game. When he did actually take it to the rim and draw a foul he didn't convert. Pau ( make one miss one) Gasol didn't show much from the line either. They both COMBINED for 8 points the whole second HALF!!. Not Good.

* Another reason ( not excuse but reason) was fatigue. The Lakers were coming off of 4 games in 5 nights. The Clippers had 2 days rest. The Lakers lead the league in games played this season. The Clippers?? The have played the least amount of games. Add that to the fact we were on the 2nd day of a back to back, we had alot of injuries so many of our players have been playing extra minutes to fill in the gaps, and we are  older. The Clippers have a young explosive team and they love to run the floor, we have a half court offense for the most part, and lastly we have so many holes in our roster it looks like Swiss cheese. We need a point guard and or another play maker like Kobe. Someone who can create his own shot. So...when you add all those things together its a recipe for disaster.


Don't get me wrong I'm not taking anything away from the Clippers. When you add Chris Paul to ANY team it will improve immensely. Bottom line, I would rather the Lakers work all these kinks out now than during the playoffs. All these things we are going through can and will be corrected. We all just have to be patient and trust that the Lakers will continue to make history like we always have

Jazz open the game 5-0 at home. The game was pretty up and down from the beginning. Kobe fresh of a 48 point game came out still hot. He made Raja Bell remember why he hated him. When the game was tied at 15/15 Kobe went up for a layup and Raja gave him a shove, then followed that up with a little jaw jacking that Kobe just ignored as usual. Raja got a smooth technical foul. For the Jazz Milsap came out firing as well. The fact that Luke was guarding him didn't help matters much. He was having his way on both ends of the floor. Kobe ends the quarter with a buzzer beater three that puts the Lakers up by three. Pau already had five boards and Kobe had 12points in counting.
The Lakers are being out rebounded but they are still keeping good pace. Defense was still holding strong though. It was very evident when Milsap ran down the lane for what he thought was a one hand jam and Bynum met him at the top of the key and hung him like a Christmas wreath! The Lakers end the half down by one. Mainly because Kobe had 21 and the Lakers had 41! With one guy scoring half the points it usually doesnt end well. We needed points from other players and fast.
The Lakers open the third on an 8-2 run led by The Blank Mamba. All things seemed to be going right for the Lakers. Luke Walton actually made a left hand floater in the lane. At the same time, Steve Blake takes a shot to ribs and couldn't breathe. He's helped to the lockeroom. With Jason Kapono ( wife gave birth to twins),McRoberts ( toe injury),Troy Murphy ( flu), our already thin lineup just got thinner.
Kobe and Fish sit on the bench until the 9:34 mark in the 4th which is about all I could handle from the line up of Ron, EBanks,Morris (the rook who dribbles too much),and Luke. The Jazz then go on a 6-0 run to take the lead. Matt Barnes then hits a long two to improve his perfect night from the floor. The starters are now all in as we learn Steve Blake has a bruised rib and will not return. The starters are very well need because our bench has not been producing. Utah bench has 27 to the Lakers 11!!
Well the game gets down to the wire and it's 73-73 with 1:17 to go. Then Josh Howard hits a 3,then Kobe answers with a fade away. Then of course Milsap scores underneath on Pau and it's a tie game with 28 secs left. Kobe is fould with 6 secs left. He holds for the last shot but doesn't make it and we are goin to OT.
Milsap abuses Pau for the first few possessions and Pau has a blanket of frustration draped over him. But just like that with a pass from Kobe he makes his first three of the season! Raja Bell fouls out on the next play as always when guarding Kobe and Lakers lead by one with 1:03 to go. Kobe misses a basket on our end and the Jazz head down the court with 11 secs left. Al Jefferson is posed for a dunk and Bynum blocks his life!!!!! NO BASKET!!!! Lakers up by three. Jazz in bound with .007 secs left. In bound pass goes to Devin Harris who is blocked by Kobe....with his left hand...GAME. Kobe walks off the court with a smirk and 40 points ending the Jazz home streak. On to the next one......

Well our Lakers head up north to take on Mark Jackson's Golden State Warriors. I love to say that because that means I won't have to hear his ridiculous commentary any longer. According to the practice report this game should've been an easy one. Their star Stephan Curry is hurt, they still have Monte Ellis who is also a threat, but both of them together are deadly. Also with David Lee we have and advantage over them inside...so here we go..As expected Bynum opens the game with a monster dunk. I figured that was a good sign. But, sigh..the Lakers seem to be sleepwalking again just like the Portland game. The " Curryless" Warriors were having their way. It's not that they were playing exceptionally good, but the Lakers were just playing bad. The score was 18-18 to end the first and the Lakers seemed like they couldn't get anything going offensively.
Golden State went on an 11-2 run to start the 2nd to put them up by five. To add insult to injury the Lakers already had 5 turnovers. Nate Robinson debuted as a Warrior tonight and was typical Nate. Taking Ill advised and often rushed shots..making most of them. He had 7quick points. We were now shooting a woeful 39%. Our 3point shooting continued to do a disappearing act. We also had many problems on the offensive glass. The floor spacing was also a mess. When the ball goes down low, the players need to either cut or space the floor. The Lakers did neither. Bynum didn't look on track to have a monster game . The coaching staff urged the team to dump the ball inside, but when Bynum touched the ball the Lakers were 4-14, and they were 7-13 when he didn't. Not very much difference. Well we go to the half down by 4. Kobe led the Lakers with 13 and Donkey led the Warriors with 9. Gasol only had 3 points and Bynum was 3-9. Our big guys needed to step it up and bad. We only shot 37%. in that half, and 12 turnovers!! The report from the lockeroom was that our team was tired from the game last nite,and the flight, but no excuses we have work to do.
I'm not sure what was or wasn't said in the lockeroom, but from the first play...It was all.Kobe. Let me just interject that in my opinion Kobe is damed if he does and damed if he doesn't. If he takes too many shots that he is a ballhog who is going away from the offense and playing his own game. But, when the ship is sinking and he doesn't take over we are all confused. When he takes over and bails us out we are all singing his praises. I don't get it. At any rate, all the cries of playing inside out and feed the big man went out the window. Besides, Bynum wasn't having that much of an impact anyway. But, Kobe being Kobe saw the Lakers couldn't make two points with a paper and pencil and he went to work. He was making layups, shooting fade aways, dunking, and he even fell out of bounds on the defensive end only to get back up and sprint to the other end for a layup. The guy was everywhere. No matter who the Warriors thru at him it didint matter..it never does. He had 17 in the fourth quarter alone.
When Kobe went to work that sparked Matt Barnes. He was making great passes, great defensive plays, and ended up with 16 points before he fouled out. He was actually with Mike Brown on the plane studying tape of the last game and it showed. Pau ended with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Bynum was one assist shy of a triple double, but didnt have nearly as dominating as the last two games. We out scored them in the third quarter 32-19. That made the score 67-58 going into the fourh quarter. We did get sloppy at the end letting our defense slip a little and the Warriors pulled to within four. They actually rattled off 32 points led by Monte Ellis. But our determination and resilience led us to a victory. We ran off 30 more shots and shot 10-19 in the quarter to win by 7. It wasnt our best game, but once again with Kobe's help and his 39 points we found a way to win. We won the battle of the boards pulling down 47 to the Warriors 34.
Kobe is still in a lot of pain with his wrist. He's been getting hormone shots before the game and he was seen whincing on the sidelines and he got it messaged during a time out. He won't have the normal three weeks rest, or even two day in between game rest he normally would get due to the shortened season. With the tighten scheduled and the fitigue and injuries Kobe said we would have some ugly victories....this was definitely one of them.

Welcome to the Rose Garden.........

Well the Lakers never win in Portland. It's a known fact. Ok well let me clarify we have won 4 out of the last 20!! True to form goin into this game Portland is 4-0 at home. With that being said the Lakers started out very, very,good. The offense looked very fluent, but our defense was not. Gerald Wallace and Wes Matthews were on fire. In the first quarter they each had 10 points. We close the first quarter up by 4.
The Peace Corp takes the floor to start second and the offense is still there but the defense gets worse. Matt Barnes continues to get left on the wing by Gerald Wallace. Ron Artest can't guard him either. Then to add insult to injury Raymond Felton gets hot and Steve Blake can't keep up. But, they sure do make up for it on offense. Steve looked like CP3 out there! He was throwing dimes!! We were shooting 68%, but we're we're only up by two. The Lakers were givin up too many 2nd chance points. One reason we maintained the lead was because of pure luck. Portland missed soo many layups I lost count. We dodged a ton of bullets! We end the half up by 4. Bynum has 14 points (7-7)and Kobe has 14 as well.
LeMarcus was hot to start the fourth...

.but then again so were all the Blazers. The Lakers true to third quarter form came out flat as a pancake. Their transition defense or lack thereof was making me weep. They couldn't seem to defend without fouling. Matt Barnes went to the bench with his third foul and in comes Ebanks who just gets abused by Gerald Wallace.

Just as hot as the Lakers were the first half is as cold as they were in the third. We were then down by 6..then 8....then 10....it was hard to watch. With that being said newly aquired Jamal Crawford hit what looked like a thirty footer in the face of Steve Blake as the buzzer sounded to end the third. The Lakers went from shooting 68% to going 5-19 in that quarter and down by ten. SMH
The fourth quarter was too much of the same. We scratched and clawed our way back,sometimes cutting the lead to six, but they kept firing shot after shot and we had no answer for them. Gerald Wallace had a game high 31 points and Jamal Crawford single handily out scored our whole bench. We loose by nine. The Lakers have yet to win on the road.

Even though history is against us there is still that feeling in the pit of your stomach that says we just may win tonight...but once again the Blazers said..Not in our house..

...and the Rockets Red Glare.....

Just one game after becoming the youngest player to make it to 28,000 points but one of his worst shooting games ever, Kobe Bryant once again puts on a show. A day after being called a ball hog, having poor shot selection, being selfish,etc.. by haters and some fans alike he shows why you love to hate him.  While all the other Lakers were getting some much needed rest after this already long season, Kobe was breaking down film of the Denver loss with Mike Brown at 30,000 feet in the air. Mike Brown said he watched cut-ups of games with LeBron, but never a full game. Kobe said he always watches film on the plane, but doing it with the coach is different. " I really enjoyed it because I got a chance to digest things, process things, go over things, talk about adjustments in terms or personal and who to put on what spot on the floor and all that kind of stuff." In my opinion Kobe cant win for loosing. If he takes too many shots hes a ball hog, but when the Lakers are in a hole they expect Kobe to do his magic and carry the team on his back to dig us out of a ditch like the star he is. He had an answer to that to: " I do what I do. If guys are open, I kick it to them, if they're not, I shoot it. I play my game" said Kobe. Coach Brown backed him up as well. He said " If you look at the stats you might say My Gosh he took some bad shots! But, if you go back and watch the game you will see some of the shots he took- ( I know) because i coached against him--he normally makes."
So tonite Kobe was once again the Black Mamba. Blame it on the Denver air, the 2nd game of a back to  back, troubles at home, etc...none of that mattered. Today he had Staples center fans once again chanting M-V-P!!!!!! Every time he picked up the ball we waited to see what he would do next. Every time another teammate touched the ball we anticipated the pass to our hero. Yes Kobe once again showed us why he is the best. You make mistakes and then you make adjustments. He had 37 points in 36 minutes, and just like that no one remembers his woeful Denver game. Just when you think he has flaws in his armour he makes you remember why you have to admit hes the greatest. Just when you think hes getting older and more selfish he makes you shake your head and say " How he do that?" You cant deny his skill nor his basketball IQ. I know people who cant stand him, but hes on their Fantasy team. He makes people second guess themselves at every turn. He didn't come out playing erratically with something to prove. Each shot was largely sensible and methodical. He wasn't jacking up 3 after 3, but posting up the likes of Kyle Lowry , Kevin Martin, and other nameless Rockets who were embarrassingly mismatched in guarding him....and he knew it.  If he wasn't taking it to the rim, he was pulling up for a jumper before the double arrived, nice, focused, controlled, and with the poise of a swan. With this display of action he only turned the ball over twice, a huge improvement to the last two games. When Kobe plays like this the rest of the Girl scouts fall in line. Having said that Bynum has been playing like a man possessed!

 After a double double last game, he had his first career 21/22 game tonite! Now lets not forget Bynum always starts off good until his glass knees give way midway thru the season ( fingers crossed). But I think Bynum knows those trade rumors are real! Hes probably in the locker room right now singing ( in his Jennifer Holiday voice) ' And I ammm tellllling yooooouuu! Immm not goooin!!!" LOL Hes playin like he wants to stay in Cali yall!.

The " Peace Corp" is falling right in line led by Metta World Peace or Ron Artest ( as his teammates and mom...and me still call him) who continues to be a solid leader off the bench, Steve Blake looks more and more comfortable and confident, Jason Kapono is reminding everyone he DID win the 3 point contest HELOOOOOOOOO!!!!, and my favorite " newbie" McBob. Even though he is nursing a toe injury is still goes for every loose ball, every rebound, and tries to block anyone who drives to the lane. He never takes a night off.
With that being said I love Dwight Howard Lord knows I Do (*swoon*), but if we don't do anything else to our roster, I feel we will be ok. Whos with me..